I got myself into the mood of Christmas yesterday by having a stove top potpourri on top of my wood burner. I only discovered these last year. They are pots of simmering water with various ingredients in that make the room smell lovely. Yesterday I made a Christmas one with 4 mugs of water a sliced up old orange, a couple of cinnamon sticks, some sprigs of rosemary and a couple of teaspoons of cloves. If I had cranberries to hand I would have added those as well. Basically you throw all the ingredients into a pan and bring it to the boil and the turn it down and let it simmer and it will make your room smell lovely. It you don’t trust having a pan on the stove you can do the same thing in a slower cooker or crock pot on a low heat. This helps stop condensation if your house is prone to it too. If you do leave the pan on the stove it is a good idea to check the water level now and again and then top it up with boiling water if it looks like it is going to boil dry,
Another version I make with includes a full apple cut up (I use wind fall apples that are bruised), a lemon cut into chunks, some pine branches, a couple of cinnamon sticks, half an inch of fresh ginger and 4 mugs of water. In fact you can add whatever you want and make up your own smells. Sometimes I add essential oils or things like vanilla essence. In summer I will add herbs like mint and simmer with the slices of lemon that I have saved from my hot water drinks in a morning.
Does anyone else make this and what if so, what are your favourite ingredients?
